The Princess Detective: excerpt 7

The Princess knows this. Every child is told. Keep your knives clean and sharp. Listen when your elders tell you their dreams. Eat well. Ask permission. Stay out of the woods–especially when the moon is full.

Most houses have these rules on a wall in their house.

The winter air slipped under the folds of her coat. She wasn’t sure she’d see her house again. How, she wondered, did the Prince feel the last time he walked in the woods? Cold, probably. And as if he’d walk out again.

Footsteps in the dark behind the trees made her forget the Prince. She focused on the unhurried steps and kept walking.